


A Few Brave Drops

by StormLeviosa



Series: The Lowest and Vilest Alleys [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War I, Based on a Tumblr Post, Batfamily Feels, Episode: s01e24 Performance, Epistolary, Gen, Haly's Circus, Historical References, I did Actual Research for this, Kinda?, Languages, Romani Dick Grayson, Season 1 team, Team as Family, World War I, but they don't actually appear, there are translations though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 23:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19345081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormLeviosa/pseuds/StormLeviosa
Summary: They're a team of misfits, put together by chance but somehow more like family. When military intelligence have a top secret undercover mission to perform requiring the very best the army has to offer, who better to send than the boys who faced the Somme and came out the other side with barely a scratch, the boys with such a weird and wonderful collection of skills that they can face anything the world has to throw at them if only they're together?





	A Few Brave Drops

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the epically long WW1 AU that I mentioned months ago and I've finally edited. There's still about three or four installments in the series before we get to this point but I got fed up of it sitting there and not being used so I thought I'd post it anyway. I've finished uni for the summer so you might get a few more updates on various things in the next few months. It's loosely inspired by a tumblr post except I found said tumblr post on pinterest so I have no idea who's it is. I want to credit them so if anyone knows who made the original post tell me and I'll thank them for their idea because I love it a stupid amount and I hope I've done it justice.

They meet at basic training because that’s where all soldiers meet. A band of misfits that no one else wanted for their platoon, they just sort of gel without really meaning to. None of them intended to make connections, in the military love like what they have either saves you all or gets you killed and no one likes the odds, but somehow it happens and the four of them become family. They go through the awkward ice-breakers and there’s Private Kent from Kansas and Private Grayson from Gotham and Private Ahm from Atlanta and then Private West from Central City, the only one without an alliterative name. Grayson won’t let him here the end of it. They are all young (the only one significantly older is their SO, Junior Officer Harper, and he doesn’t associate with them much, though they know he is a formidable sniper) but no younger than any other new recruits. There is some tension between them when Grayson and Kent discover that “hey, my dad knows your dad,” and then realise that neither of them are on speaking terms with aforementioned dads. They get over it. In war, you have to.

 

Despite his immaturity, Grayson ‘call me Dickie’ is one of the oldest in their close-knit group. It is Conner who is the youngest, just seventeen years old and desperate to get away from dusty old Kansas where nothing happened. He is angry a lot of the time but it comes in handy when Kal gets cornered behind the showers by some idiots who don’t seem to realise every man counts when you’re about to get shot at by Jerry in a few weeks. Conner gets reprimanded for fighting but all of them are relieved that they have each other’s backs. They don’t care about Kal’s dark skin, or Dickie’s Romani heritage, or Wally’s endless appetite, or Conner’s sheltered upbringing. It just makes them closer. They are a found family, brothers in all but blood. Dickie should know, he has a lot of brothers. He asked them to send him news about ‘what they get up to at night.’ Timmy sends him newspaper clippings about Batman and Robin. Damian sends him sketches of the dog and a cat that he apparently picked up off the street (“he’s just like his father, taking in the strays.”)

 

Basic training is easy for them because they know how to utilise their skills. Conner is just too damn strong for his own good and even when his aim wanders he pack such a punch with his bayonet it rarely matters. Kal is a strategic master and once beat a Major at chess, something they bragged about in the mess hall for weeks afterwards. Dickie is an all around contortionist. How he can pick up so many seemingly useless skills that turn out to save their lives is a huge unknown for all of them. Acrobatics, languages, math, reconnaissance, close and long range combat are all familiar territory to him. Wally is too fast for any of them to keep up with. He claims he was an Olympic hopeful before the war and even if they know he exaggerates it is not so far fetched. Indeed, they do so well in training, pass so quickly and with such high scores, they are recruited by a much higher ranking officer, plucked from a batch of greenies and stuck in with the experienced troops. They stay in the trenches for a year. Dickie celebrates a birthday without his little brothers but with his new ones (he tries not to be disappointed when Bruce doesn’t send a card but they can tell he is). Conner gets a minor injury when they go over the top and meets Megan Morse, the pretty red-headed nurse at the field hospital nearby (He learns French from Dickie just for her and gets teased relentlessly for it). Wally becomes a message runner and almost dies several times before Officer Harper, at Kal’s insistence, pulls him from the role, for fear that his death would cause insubordination. They become famous among the soldiers in the trenches for their luck and skill: with Officer Harper at their back and Conner at their front it is hard not to be intimidated. They are bored. Trench warfare is ill-suited to Wally’s speed or Conner’s anger, torture for Dick who was Nightwing and before that Robin or Kal’s perfect strategies for battles they will never fight. And then the Colonel arrives.

 

* * *

 

_My little birds (and Bruce),_

_We have been recruited for an extra special mission by a new intelligence group. It’s all very hush hush so I can’t tell you anything, though I know you’re all dying to know. We set off from the front in a week so no more care packages! I love them but I just won’t get them where I’m going._

 

_There are five of us. You know about Wally, Conner and Kal but now Roy Harper, our SO, is joining us. It will be nice to have a sniper at our backs to keep us out of trouble but I worry that it’ll disrupt team dynamics, that he’ll try to take over when Kal is clearly our leader. Conner’s arm healed well and he keeps telling me to thank you for the arnica cream you sent him. I keep telling him it was Alfred and not you but he won’t listen. Pass on the message for me, please._

 

_I haven’t seen our Jay around, though I’ve been keeping an ear to the ground. Truthfully, I don’t know if we’ll find him again, or if he’s even here. Given that he left us so long ago, it’s unlikely that he could have enlisted, though if I could manage it I’m sure he could find a way around the slight problem of his legal documents being invalid._

 

_Bruce, I know you disapprove but I really believe we are doing good work here. Don't worry about me. I'll be back in Gotham running around with you and the Birds in no time._

 

_I have to go: I'm supposed to be teaching the boys German. They're not great at it but I will have them semi-competent by next week if it's the last thing I do._

 

_I miss you all loads but it'll all be over soon._

 

_Yours,_

_Dickie._

* * *

 

The first problem they run into is when high command tell the group they will be brothers for their mission. Of course, they've been brothers in all but name (and blood because even if they wanted to perform that childish ritual, open wounds in the trenches are just asking for trouble) since the beginning but it doesn't change their very different appearances. Wally is so pale, underneath the mud, that he appears luminous and his bright red hair doesn't help either. Hair can be died but there is nothing to be done about his bright green eyes. Conner and Dick look similar enough, though Dick's skin has darkened since leaving Gotham to a tan that he claims is his natural skin tone. He looks every inch the gypsy boy he says he was but Conner is paler, a white Kansas farm boy, and it is noticeable. And Kal is black. There is no way to hide that from anyone.

 

When Dick is told they will be using a circus for cover, he leaves the meeting without warning and Wally finds him two hours later on top of an abandoned church spire. How he got up there without being shot is anyone’s guess but instead of reprimanding him they dry his tears and Wally wraps him in one of his infamous bear hugs. Later that night, after high command put him in charge of preparing them for the mission, he tells them the truth, or part of it at least. He is smothered by Wally again and even Roy, who always remains cold and aloof, looks emotional. Dick wants desperately to incorporate a trapeze act into their performance but there is no one to do it with and “a trapeze artist always needs a partner.” The rest of them are not cut out to be circus folk. Wally is fast but has no traditional circus skills to employ. Kal is the perfect soldier but what is there for a strategist and leader to do? Roy can shoot a gun like no one else alive but the closest they can find is a bow and arrow and he refuses to utilise weaponry for frivolous purposes. Conner could be a strongman but the circus already has one. The plan is falling apart and they haven’t even left yet. Dick teaches them enough German to get by, on top of their semi-fluent French, and a few choice words of Romani. He creates a routine for himself from scratch and asks Conner and Kal to help him build a trapeze set in an empty bunker behind the lines. Wally covers for him when they are on watch together so he can practice. Roy is eventually persuaded to use the bow and is so good at it Dick immediately incorporates it into the performance. Kal, they decide, can sign on as a roustabout in the town before where they plan to join the troop. But Wally and Conner are still undecided and it’s too late to teach someone how to use the trapeze with less than a week to go.

“Do you like animals?” Dick asks him and he responds that he does. Dick shows up two days later with a dozen assorted pigeons and collared doves. Conner will help Wally with it: a dangerous end to the act for Dick and a needless distraction for Roy. But they set it up just right and Dick avoids Roy’s arrows and none of the birds die so they mark it a successful rehearsal and call it a night. It is the night before they leave.

 

They make their way across Europe with the circus. High command didn’t tell Dick the name of the circus, just that they were friends of the Allies and would know they were army agents. It's Haly's because apparently God or fate or whatever is watching over their measly little lives hasn't yet tired of caused Dick unnecessary grief. The tearful reunion between Mr Haly and little Dickie Grayson, who had last seen each other some ten or more years previously, is unexpected but not unwelcome. The last of the Flying Graysons has returned home and they couldn’t be happier for him even if it does result in some frantic sharing of cover stories and endless slip ups. Entering Germany is more stressful than it needs to be. The border guard barely looks at their papers and they perform for a week in Berlin with Christmas lights twinkling in the background. Dick gets to catch up with the man who had been his grandfather for ten years, and the performers who taught him all the skills he still possessed. Wally writes Christmas cards and letters he will never send. Conner sketches the ancient buildings and the enormous tree in Gendarmenmarkt, tucking the pictures away to send to Megan when they are safe. Kal spends his nights watching the stars and his days wandering the streets. They spend Christmas Day together. Each one of them has bought his brothers gifts from the markets and the trinkets hang in their respective trailers (or in Wally’s case, hang until he eats the Lebkuchen they all give him). They sing carols by the fire, careless of how their voices carry, and Wally tries to find a goose to cook but meat is far too much for a wartime budget. They light candles and watch them flicker in the moonlight; if Wally and Dick kiss under the mistletoe and say it’s a joke then no one notices. It is the happiest they’ve been since they met. It won’t last, maybe, but they are young still and living in the moment comes as easily as breathing.

 

* * *

 

_To Uncle B and Aunty I,_

_It’s Christmas and we’re in Berlin so you won’t get this (except maybe when I get back but it’ll be too late then anyway) but Christmas is a time for family so I wanted to wish you a good one. It’s been a long few weeks of not a lot happening but if nothing’s happening then we’re not getting shot at so it’s all good. Apparently my appetite is a running joke among us (hah! See what I did there? ‘running’) because all of the lads got me some kind of food and Dick got me Christmas decorations made of_ _gingerbread_ _! How cool is that? The Germans call it Lebkuchen which Dick says translates as ‘life cake’ which is pretty darn cool. Speaking of Dick, I think he’s struggling to keep on task at the moment. We all get it; he grew up with these people so it’s understandable that he’d want to spend time with them, catching up and stuff, but he’s taken his eyes off the prize and any runner knows you can’t do that for a second._

 

_So my Christmas has been good. It’s not the same as being at home with you, of course, and I miss your cooking more than anything, Aunty I, but it hasn’t been too bad. I wanted to go for a Christmas morning run, just like we used to, Uncle B, but Kal said that it wasn’t a great idea. With all the soldiers still around, one young man out running alone would be suspicious and my German’s coming along quicker now that I have to speak it almost all the time but Dick is still our official languages expert._

 

_Hope your Christmas was amazing (say ‘hi’ to the twins for me)._

_Your nephew,_

_Wally_

* * *

 

It is the week after Christmas and they’re going to Prague when Haly corners Roy to talk about maybe doing the finale in the next city. ‘The Daring Dangers’ have become famous and popular so he wants to give them more stage time. Roy accepts without really thinking about it. Haly tells him to ask Grayson to fit in the quad, whatever that means, then runs off to yell at some roustabouts for putting away the tent pegs wrong.

 

Dick is practicing his acrobatics on the floor because his equipment is in the trailers, packed away by Dick himself. He allows no one to touch his equipment but himself and no one has asked him why. There is a story in it but perhaps they sense it is not a pleasant one. Conner is sitting in the long grass, sketch pad open, and Dick thinks he’s drawing a portrait of Megan from memory but he can’t be sure. For all he knows, Conner is attempting to capture Dick’s movement on paper, an impossible task for most. Roy approaches as he flips onto his hands, perfecting his walk over, and he’s not paying attention until he hears him say “finale.” He tucks and rolls until he is sitting cross-legged at his feet and asks Roy to say it again.

“Mr Haly wants us to do the finale once we get to Prague. He wants me to ask you to ‘do the quad.’ I told him it was fine.” Dick is so in tune with his body that he feels his blood run cold. His heart begins to pound and all he can hear in his head is screaming.

“Na,” he says and Roy misinterprets it as a flippant turn of phrase. “No,” he says, more firmly this time, and he turns away from Roy. His hands are shaking, he realises, and hides them in his lap. He hears Roy's angry sigh and Conner’s concerned murmurs and he wants to tell them, wants to explain the weight that drags him down from ever attempting the quad again and why the circus is so bittersweet, why sometimes his acrobatics makes his heart soar and his blood sing but sometimes the mere thought makes his thoughts fuzzy. It's not an easy story to tell, even if he doesn't tell all of it, nor an easy one to hear. There are parts of his childhood that none of them could ever hope to understand, parts even a born-and-raised Gothamite would struggle to believe, and even the tamer bits are two heavy for the circus the memories were born in; but Roy is probing and it's born of frustrated misunderstanding. It is far too late to take himself away or pretend that there isn't something going on beneath his flat out refusal. He had to tell them something and they were his brothers in arms. They had proven themselves more than worthy of his trust over and over again. He told them the story.

“The last night I saw my parents was the night before my tenth birthday. We were in Gotham but we were supposed to head on to New York the next day and ticket sales were good for that stop. Dat and Daj had made a cake for me to have the next day and they promised they’d start training me to do their special routine. The finale role alternates between acts depending on the tour and the weather and all kinds of things but it was their turn that night. ‘The Flying Graysons! Best trapeze artists in the world, pride of Haly’s circus, the only people ever to perform a quadruple somersault and all without a net!’ I used to go on at the start. It was a lark. I got to terrify people who weren’t expecting a little kid to get thrown about twenty feet up in the air and then I’d watch the show from up on the platform, best seat in the house. But not everyone liked us carnies. There was a man who threatened Pop and I saw it but I said nothing. And then I saw him by the tent before the show and I said nothing. I was just a kid! I didn’t know anything. But it doesn’t matter. I said nothing. I’d done my bit and I was sitting up on the platform - we called it the Robin’s nest - when I heard the wires creaking. They do that a lot, especially back in the day, so I didn’t notice it at first but then it got louder and more of a cracking, grinding sound and I shouted to them to stop and then the wire broke. It snapped clean in two and they fell. So no, Officer Harper, I won’t do the finale and I definitely won’t do the quad.”

 

They leave Prague for Vienna, where Haly picks up a pair of girls who dance on horseback. They suspect the horses are stolen, certainly they are of finer quality than any horse outside of the Spanish Riding School, but that’s just the way Haly’s is: they don’t ask questions. Roy can tell the men are getting nervous: Grayson hasn’t been the same since the incident with the finale, West takes long runs alone in the mornings against everyone’s advice, Kent seems more angry than ever and they haven’t spoken to Ahm in weeks. Tensions are high as they leave for Budapest and that’s when the sickness strikes. It’s just a strain of influenza but it gets passed around through all the acts and the roustabouts, one by one. Even Kent’s iron immune system is struck down. It doesn’t last. Most are back on their feet in a couple of days and some keep on going through the illness anyway. It’s why no one realised Grayson was ill. Roy had been one of the first to get it, somehow, and had gotten over it quickly. He had taken the night off while he was ill: their performance was dangerous without his arrows going astray. West had continued, as had Kent but they had very little to do. They are almost at the exit point, where they will be on their own for a few weeks until they join back up again in Zagreb. The mission would be over by then, they’d be on their way home.

* * *

 

_My dearest Megan,_

 

_I have enclosed some drawing from our travels for you. You would have loved Vienna: it was beautiful, just like you. I made a sketch of the Danube at night with the street lamps sparkling on the water which reminded me of that time we saw the Seine while I was on leave. I think of you daily and despite how lucky I am to have been chosen for this, I long to be back at the front so that I may see you again. Je t’aime, or as Dick says, “tut kamav.” I had to ask him for a translation but he was very obliging._

 

_There has been a strain of flu going around. We’ve all been laid up with it, except for Dick, but it seems to have passed quickly so there is no need for you to worry. Your patients need you far more than we do. Truthfully, we have never needed medical assistance, we’ve been lucky, but your face makes the lie worthwhile._

 

_I will write you when we get back into Allied territory, so you know that our mission was a success. In the meantime, do not fret. I will see you soon._

 

_Yours forever,_

_Conner._

* * *

 

Their last night in Budapest is eventful. Ticket sales are through the roof, the Hungarian people are suffering from the war just as much as the French so a travelling circus is a welcome relief from their daily struggle to survive, and one of the pegs had come loose in the night so the tent had flapped about in the wind, loosening the other pegs. Someone had attempted to move a piece of Dick’s equipment and he lost it, completely disassembled and reassembled the apparatus and checked it over until he was certain it was safe to use. No one blamed him for his paranoia but Wally worried about it all the same. Dick had been quiet for the last few days, almost lethargic, but he had laughed it off when mentioned. Now they regret not pushing harder. He was pale when they suited up beforehand but Wally put it down to nerves for they were doing the finale for the first time and Dick hadn’t wanted to. Then they were out in the ring and even from the ground he could hear Dick’s laboured breaths, the strain in his body. He exchanged a glance with Conner and his concern was mirrored on his friend’s face. He checked the timer they had set: two minutes to go. Then Dick slipped. He was falling and all Wally could see was the terror on his best friend, his brother’s, face as he re-lived his worst nightmare. “Pomoszinaw!” he shouted in terror and Conner was heaving the barrel into the air and the doves were swooping out and Dick sprung off the barrel and caught the bar on the other side. Wally gave a sigh of relief. He was safe.

 

Dickie trembles with fatigue as he scrambles down the ladder. He stands with Wally, Conner and Roy, smiles and waves, bows as they receive a standing ovation, a request for an encore. They don’t notice that Conner is supporting almost all of his weight. Wally and Conner help him back to their trailer, stay as he tries to slow his breathing and calm his fluttering heart. “Oh, God,” he whispers, “I almost died. I fell and I almost died and…” He trails off but Wally is there to wrap him in a hug. Gradually his heart rate slows and his breathing returns to relative normality but Wally isn’t happy. “You sound awful. Take a nap; we’ll sort out everything tonight.” Dick curls up on his side and draws the blankets tighter around him; sleep sounds like the most wonderful thing in the world.

 

Kal stand in the shadows of the tent, waiting for his men. He had not seen their performance earlier but he had heard what had happened from the audience as they were leaving. “Did you see the trapeze, Mama? I thought he would fall.” He is not surprised to see that Dick is absent from the motley crew that joins him. He inquires about his friend and Wally tells him that he is sleeping.

“I think he’s got that virus that’s going around.” Kal considers this and asks if they think it will still be possible to leave that night. They think not. He frowns, thinking through this abrupt change of plan.

“This may work out for the better,” he begins, “if Dick can play up his illness a bit, the circus would be forced to move on without you.” The plan is sound and well received by the by the other three. “We rendezvous at the Széchenyi Bridge at midnight. Good luck” They part. Kal hopes the plan works.

 

Haly doesn’t want them to leave. Roy and Wally appeal to his grandfatherly nature and beg him to let them go and find a doctor for Dick and even if Haly knows why they are truly here he doesn’t wish to lose his star performers. Eventually, Roy tells him snappishly that they are here on ‘official US army business and if you don’t let us go, by God, you will never work in America again, Mr Haly.’ That does the trick and they go to bundle Dick up in as many blankets and coats as they can, packing bags while Conner hails a taxi to take them to a random house near the bridge.   

 

Csót is over a hundred kilometres away and with Dick in such a state it is going to take longer than anticipated. But they are slightly ahead of schedule, Haly runs a tight crew, so they can stay a day or two in Budapest before beginning the journey to the camp. They haven’t allowed themselves to think past getting there because there is no real plan for their actions other than to fulfill the objective: to break out the British intelligence officer currently trapped in the prisoner of war camp there. They have a little money, enough for one night in a seedy hotel, and some basic necessities such as food and water. They are stumbling through the city and not really paying attention to what is going on around them (Conner’s sole purpose is to hold Dick upright and it appears to be a losing battle) when they are surrounded by armed men snapping at them in Hungarian with guns pointed at them. Dick mumbles sleepily in Romani and attempts to extricate himself from Conner’s grip. The men look at them and bark more orders but of all the skills they have learnt Hungarian is not one of them. “Entschuldigen, Herren, kannst du uns zu einem Hotel führen?”  Wally is determined to get them out of trouble even without Dick’s expertise. The men snort and mutter something about ‘Osztrák gazemberek,’ beginning to turn away, disinterested. Wally decides to try for directions again. “Einem Hotel? Wir haben Geld.” One of the men laughs and says something to the man next to him. Wally thinks maybe they’ve gotten away with it when Dick says quite clearly through his fever “ _ein_ Hotel, you idiot,” and the leader of the group pulls his pistol on them again.

 

Any other day of the week, they could take the five men surrounding them because they are just that talented but with Dick down for the count and Conner, their main fighter, preoccupied with keeping him safe, there are three of them against five and they couldn’t leave their friends unprotected and they couldn’t cause a scene. There is a sharp bang and Wally ducks even though he knows it’s pointless at this range but it’s a reflex, okay? He can’t help it. He isn’t bleeding, isn’t dying, and as he looks around to see the others safe as well he feels confusion rise in him. There are four more bangs in quick succession, muted and definitely not from the men surrounding them. Wally knows this for a fact because they fall down dead mere seconds later. Dick chooses that moment to slip into a feverish delirium again and damn it Wally wishes this sickness had never spread to the circus. Roy, a sniper himself, looks in one specific direction. Good old Roy, always paying attention.

“Over there,” he mutters, pointing to a darkened alley, and Wally catches a glimpse of a young man, a skinny little scrap of a thing really, as he tries to leave. He winks at Roy and then he’s off, sprinting silently towards the guy and he looks at Wally with such burning intensity that he pulls up short because this guy isn’t running, isn’t trying to get away from him. The gun is still visible, an M1891, and that surprised him because it wasn’t nearly as unwieldy as the machine guns they had operated in the trenches and he’d seen Roy take his rifle to pieces in far less time than this.

“You are Americans, no?” He hissed and Wally nodded before he could stop himself but the guy was smiling. “Good. Follow me.”

 

They follow him to a small apartment about ten minutes away. It’s a bit ramshackle and it’s in the bad part of town but Wally is so glad to be somewhere safe that it really doesn’t matter at this point. The door has no lock but if their saviour can carry a gun around with no problems, Wally doubts the lack of lock is going to matter in the long run. The gun is thrown onto a pile of blankets and the guy’s coat flung on top in a careless heap. The cap follows and Wally fails at hiding how he loses his breath at the sight because cascading down towards the floor is a mane of blonde hair and the face that greets them is that of a woman.

* * *

 

_Tula,_

 

_When I left home it was with the intention of doing great things for my country and I have done that. It doesn’t change the fact that I miss Atlanta greatly. I miss our home, with its hidden nooks and crannies. I miss the park where we played as kids and the aquarium. I miss our studies together in the library. Don’t lose hope in your future, my friend, women will have much more power when this is all over, given the sheer amount of work you have put into the war effort._

 

_I know that you wished to join me when I left but secretly, though I would not dream of imposing upon your will, I am glad that you did not. The trenches are no fit place for anyone, regardless of gender and besides, soon I will not be there for my friends and I have been recruited for something very special. I cannot say anymore now but when I return you will hear the full story. No doubt it will be quite the tale._

 

_I wish you all the best for the future and pray you do not lose sight of who you truly are. That would be the most terrible of all the tragedies to come out of this for you shine brighter than the stars._

 

_All my love,_

_Kaldur_

* * *

 

She says her name is Artemis and whether it is her true name or not is irrelevant. No one knows quite what to think of her. Wally is clearly infatuated and falls deeper under her spell with every passing minute while Roy is downright rude to her despite her saving all of them not an hour ago. Kal thinks it may be jealousy that he is no longer their only sharpshooter because this girl has wiggled her way into their little band of misfits and bonded with them in a way that Roy has never quite been able to. Wally asks her where she got her rifle and she tells them with more than a hint of pride that she ‘stole it from a Red Army mal’chik’ but when probed further says nothing. She tries to make them some food, a porridge she calls kasha and some blini, but burns both and even Wally has to turn it down. Conner forces some water into Dick who is mumbling incoherently about ‘Timmy’ and ‘Jay’ and ‘Damian’ with some broken snatches of other languages in between. He places a hand to Dick’s forehead and is alarmed by how hot he is. There is little they can do but ride it out and they have time to wait. Artemis explains that when they find the soldiers they will be more alert and it will be harder to get out.

“When they find bodies, they start looking for you, for Americans, or for French and English men. They don’t look for Russian girls. I can get you out in a few days but not before.” They accept her help because despite their briefing they don’t know much about Budapest. Dick may have been before but not in the past decade and not since the war began.

 

The next morning Dick feels better than he has since they arrived in the city but they are no longer with the circus and he notes with alarm that they have acquired someone new while he slept. He coughs into his hand and she stares at him with sleepy but focused eyes and he stares back with that guileless surprise that always got him out of trouble back home. She is not amused.

“No puppy eyes,” she snaps and he grins. She is Russian. He can work with that. He greets her in her own language and laughs at her surprise before she responds. Their conversation wakes the others who crowd around and attempt to smother him until he makes them back off. He might be the smallest but he’s older than all of them except Kal and Roy so he has some authority. Wally introduces him properly to Artemis and explains how Dick blew their cover the night before. They laugh at him when he buries his head in his hands and groans because he will never live this down. Wally makes the food this time, with Artemis watching, and it tastes like heaven to Dick. They go over plans for the next few days because if they’re holed up in Artemis’s flat for more than two days with nothing to do they’ll all go mad. Roy and Artemis compare models of rifle with technical jargon that goes right over everybody else’s heads so Dick decides to give Wally an impromptu German lesson because damn it, he’s going to get these cases right one day. Mistakes may pass in France, where they are in Allied territory, or in the Hungarian part of the empire, but in Austria, or God forbid actual Germany, it could jeopardise the whole mission. Conner is listening in and Kal has found a map to focus on so everyone is occupied for the time being. At some point in the day, someone asks Dick how many languages he actually speaks because they have yet to find one he doesn’t know while lucid. He lists the five that he knows (and questions whether Gotham street talk counts as a language) and they seem surprised that he doesn’t know more which is strange because it takes years to learn a language and he’s already a polyglot but Artemis nods approvingly and says she is happy to find another Russian speaker. She leaves to buy a newspaper and comes back with an empty gun.

 

They leave the city on foot in the dead of night. Dick is back up to his full strength so Conner doesn’t have to lug his dead weight like he had on their last hellish night crawl through the city. They head west and make it thirty kilometres before sunrise. Wally wants to continue on but Kal explains that it’s for the best if they’re not seen during the day so they make camp, eat a huge meal of bread and meat, and sleep until lunchtime. If anyone comes by to ask, they are having a picnic, but no one comes so they have the day to rest. When night falls, they walk again and make it about fifty kilometres this time. One more night will have them at the camp and ready for action. They are still arguing over who goes in. Roy says Wally should because he’s fast enough to get in and out without getting shot. Kal says it should be Dick because he wouldn’t _get_ seen in the first place, let alone shot at. Conner notices no one has nominated him and wonders why he is even here. In the end, they decide on Dick with Wally for backup, a situation both young men are happy with. Artemis and Roy will be on lookout and overhead support which is Kal speak for ‘they sit in a tree and shoot anyone who looks in our direction.’ Kal doesn’t have a role in the extraction; neither does Conner. But they still have that all important pouch with the documents to give the officer that they’ve carried all the way across Europe with them. It isn’t much and they had planned to dip into it if they needed to because there are spare train tickets and a border pass to get into Italy and several different ID cards for different aliases, even some money has made it into the kit, and a handgun with some extra cartridges Roy has claimed he could utilise for his rifle. He is lying. No one has called him out on it though and it would fracture the uneasy camaraderie that exists between them. When they return home, Roy will be their SO again.

* * *

 

_Oliver,_

 

_They told me to write to a family member to tell them what was going on and I didn’t have the heart to tell them that my family is dead. So, my plan worked and you’re angry at me. I get it. You’re a control freak and now I’m not under your thumb you can’t cope. Get over yourself; you can yell at me when I get home._

 

_Did you know Bruce’s kid is here? The oldest one that you pushed me towards when I was a kid? Remember him? Yeah, Dickie Grayson grew up and did exactly the same as me except I’m his superior now, not that I ever wasn’t, and he has to listen to me. He’s still just as immature but he’s useful because he speaks a lot of languages and knows how to do stuff that the army doesn’t teach, like sneak around without being seen. For someone so personable, he didn’t make many friends. He has three friends from basic training and everyone else is too in awe of them to even approach. It’s sickening, if I’m honest._

 

_I’m not actually in any danger here. They figured out quickly that my aim is the best of anybody’s, gave me a fancy rifle, and made me a sharpshooter. I stay a bit further behind the lines and I’m well protected. Your worry is unfounded._

 

_I’ll see you on the other side._

 

_Roy._

 

The camp is surrounded by barbed wire but after the trenches the idea that something so trivial as barbed wire could keep them out was laughable. Dick scrambles over it, gives a jaunty wave to Wally and slinks into the camp. He can see a building that looks significantly better maintained that the others and peeks in the window. There are prisoners inside, he recognises their uniform, but they are clean and better fed than expected. He eases open the window and rolls over the ledge. It is the circus blood in him that makes him stand with a flourish and a grin even though no one is watching. He creeps on silent feet to each bunk and now that he looks closely, they are awfully crowded but he can’t focus on that now. He has to find the officer. Peering at each face as he passes, he searches and searches but finds nothing. Where is he? Perhaps there is another room to try so he rattles the door and is unsurprised to find it locked. He takes another look and leaves the way he came. There are windows all the way around this building so he tries the one to the right and has the same problem. Then he just goes into each room and looks for him, following windows. He gets all the way around the corner of the squat concrete building, further from their exit point and the hole Wally is making for them than he would like, before he gets it right. He recognises this man. Shaking his shoulder, he hisses in his ear “British Intelligence Officer Addison. Wake up!” The man grumbles and squints open one eye. “You have to come with me,” he whispers, “hurry.” He allows the man to slide from under the blanket he’d been provided and heads for the window. Halfway through, he realises the man isn’t following.

“I can’t possibly fit through there,” he says. “It’s far to small.”

Dick fights the urge to sigh and hops back through. He has had enough of stuffy Englishmen who think they know everything but raises his eyebrows at the man, points at the door, and says “the door is locked, there are most likely guards waiting for this to happen and this place is a maze. You go through that window or you don’t leave at all and I don’t know how you feel about your country but if you stay they will force you to reveal any information still in your head. Do you want that to happen? No? Well then get through that window!” The man follows Dick through the window.

 

Wally waits for Dick on the other side of the fence. They are lucky that Austria-Hungary are running out of supplies because they can’t keep the lights on around the perimeter and the fence is poorly maintained. It is easy to cut a reasonably sized hole in it for the officer, not a agile as Dick, to crawl through. They are coming. A whistle like an owl hoot which Wally returns and he sees Dick running with a second, taller figure beside him. Dick is darting through shadows, clear for a second and then gone, but the officer is just running and hoping the dark covers him. They reach the fence and Wally raises the flap in the wire. The man looks like he’s about to object when Dick glares at him and wow, he didn’t know Dick could do that, but the man is crawling under the wire and Dick is vaulting over. It is time to leave prison camps behind them. They run.

 

It is almost alarmingly easy for them to complete their part of the mission. Kal gives the officer his bag and tells him to get on the first train heading west from Veszprém, to cross the border into Italy and find the doctor in Trieste, a man named Giovanni Zatarra. The doctor was friendly with the Allies and spoke English. He had connections that would get the man home. They watch the officer lope away at an easy jog and Kal decides they should go in the opposite direction, north-west towards Vienna rather than south-west towards Zagreb which is their pick up point, and then double back. In two days, they make it almost a hundred kilometres, close to the Austrian border and they become careless, walking in the streets by daylight, speaking in English in public places. It is no surprise that the border guards are suspicious of them when they try to cross near Letenye. Dick spoke to them in quick, precise German.

“Meine Familie und ich müssen die Grenze überqueren. Wir sind mit der Zirkus aber wir wurden getrennt. Bitte helfen uns, wir meinen es nicht böse.” The guards do not appear sympathetic but Dick is pouring on the charm. “Wenn Sie helfen uns, ich werde dafür sorgen, dass Sie Sitze in der ersten Reihe in Haly’s Zirkus erhalten.” They are not impressed. Something is going on that rubs Kal up the wrong way and he glances at Dick out of the corner of his eye. It is barely there but he looks stressed with a tense twist to his smile and a slight panic to his eyes. They are looking over his papers again and this is the third time so either they are cruel men or something is amiss.

“Was ist los?” Wally asks him in a whisper and Kal can only shake his head, mystified. Finally, the men seem to be happy to let them through and Dick thanks them profusely, shaking their hands and grinning that manic grin of his. But as they begin to walk away, there is a sharp whistle and a dog comes flying out of nowhere, snapping and snarling.

 

* * *

 

_Mon Coeur,_

 

_You have not written in so long and when I went to visit they said you were not there. No one will tell me anything. Where are you, my love?_

 

_The field hospital is a mess. So many injured men, so many boys who just want to go home, and too few staff mean we are losing more soldiers daily. Passchendaele has been a nightmare for everyone and the Germans keep coming though our troops are killing them as they come over the top. There are too many deaths and very rarely is it a quick and merciful one. Though I do not know where you are, I hope you are safe and well. It is too much to hope that you are not in danger, I know, but I wish you well all the same._

 

_I miss you, Conner, and I miss you more with every day that we are apart. I long for word of your whereabouts or even a sketch of the sunrise from where you are. At least then I know we are still together in this life and that I am not foolish to hope you will return to me._

 

_Je t’aime,_

_Megan_

 

* * *

 

Roy could shoot the dog. Roy should shoot the dog. But it would make a fuss and the noise would draw every guard in the vicinity and they need to get away but even Wally can’t outrun an Alsatian. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Artemis has no such uncertainty. She draws her rifle and shoots the dog dead. The bang, as predicted, brings everyone running and they are immediately surrounded. Though there are now six of them, they cannot defeat the near fifty soldiers that have come for them. They are arrested and locked in the cellar of the guardhouse. All because of the dog.

 

It is an army captain who comes to interrogate them and he is an unpleasant man, particularly when they refuse to talk. When he sees Artemis and whistles, she spits at his feet. When he asks Dick for his name, he babbles at him in Romani. The others stay stoically silent. He realises he will get nothing out of them and leaves to send a telegram to the camp. They refuse to relax. They talk in French, plotting escape plan after escape plan that will not work and conclude that the only one capable of escape is Dick. He will not leave without them.

“We began this together, we finish it together,” he says by way of explanation. They are bundled into a truck with a surly guardsman in the driver’s seat, locked in, and driven away. All because of the dog.

 

They are trapped now, locked away in a prisoner of war camp behind enemy lines. It is made for men, soldiers, and although Artemis is as much a fighter as any of them they cut her hair when the guards can’t see and plait it into rope. She hates it but they have heard the rumours of what happens to the girls left behind after conquest when the enemy is high on blood lust. Dick wonders when their families will know. They have not told anyone their names but surely when they miss their pick up with Pop Haly, he’ll telegram ahead so high command will know. They will know sooner whether their mission was a success. He dreams of home and flying across the Gotham rooftops with Timmy and Damian, of gleeful laughter and the adrenaline rush that comes with crime fighting. He dreams of the old days, curled up by a tiny fire with just his two brothers by his side, stomachs empty but hearts full. In his nightmares he remembers blood and screams and Harvey Dent’s chilling cackle. He daren’t ask the conscription age because he wants to believe little Timmy is safe at home, though he is not so little anymore, and ignorance is bliss when you can’t confirm the truth. But the camp is boring. They are not allowed out like the other ordinary soldiers because the guards are afraid they’ll escape. Wally thinks it’s because they know about the officer. Dick thinks it’s because they speak enough German to convince someone to help them. Both of them are right. So while other captives are taken off to fields and battlegrounds to work, Dick practices acrobatics on the cell floor. It is good to stay in shape and while he is not as flexible as he was when he was still Robin all those years ago, he is still far more malleable than average. His contortions are amusing to the guards and sometimes he is given extra food for his troubles. He never eats it. Wally’s bottomless stomach needs it more than his.

 

It is 1918 and they have each spent another birthday away from home. Some of the soldiers, the Russian and Italian troops who share their quarters sometimes and are far too young to be so jaded, can’t even remember what home is. Conner thinks maybe they have made their own home wherever they are and that it is the people you are with that make a place home. He speaks to Dick about it and Dick agrees which he appreciates because Dick is the undisputed master of found family. The summer passes in a haze of heat and moves into a foggy autumn. Conner likes how the fog changes lighting and the appearance of everyday things. He spends a lot of time sketching. Kal manages to liberate a chess set and plays games with Roy in silence. He tried to teach Wally but he is always closeted away with Artemis and has no patience for the game anyway. They get letters occasionally. Dick gets one a month from his littlest brother, the only one still at home, usually with drawings and newspaper clippings. Wally gets more from his aunt and uncle with updates about their twin toddlers and his cousin, Bart, who has been drafted into the same unit as Dick’s brother. Kal gets several from a girl he knows and who they know he loves about Atlanta and her attempts to get to medical school. Roy gets none at all. They are not allowed letters from the front line and they are not allowed to reply but the letters give everyone hope. Hope is all they have.

 

It was a bad harvest and the crops they saved for the prisoners run out by the beginning of October. They survive for a week on reduced rations and Wally’s stomach almost gets used to the restricted diet when it is cut to one meal a day. He wonders if he will starve to death before the war is over but Dick gives him some food and he eats it without thinking that it means his brother is losing out. It turns out the war is going badly for the Austro-Hungarians and their soldiers are suffering just as much as Wally is. It is not all that comforting. But there is a bell tolling at the church and someone tells them, an Italian he thinks, that the war is over. He doesn’t believe it. It is only three hours later when the guards start to take individual prisoners away. None of them come back and Artemis tells him they have probably been shot, that it is what the Russians would do. He worries for a while, wants to run but has nowhere to go, before a guard rounds them up and takes them to the mess hall. The officer who captured them is there and seems surprised to see them alive.

“As you have no doubt heard, we have signed an armistice to end the war. So, in light of our renewed peace, we have decided we should let you go. We will provide you with a canteen of water each and a train ticket, no more. What you choose to do is up to you. The guards will take you to the gates where you will be free to go.” They look at each other incredulously before letting out a cheer.

 

* * *

 

_Grayson,_

_Father has asked me to pass on a message for you. He says, “tell your friends that if you are all alive after the war is over they are welcome in Gotham at any time.” Personally, I would rather not have our home overrun with uncultured idiots such that you prefer to associate with but if you feel it necessary I will tolerate it._

 

_We received a letter from Drake last week. From what I understand, having not read the letter myself, he is healthy and doing well. They think it will all be over soon and he is happy that he will be able to come home. He has expressed concern about your health because no one has heard from you in a long time however he and I both believe you are more tenacious and resolute than they give you credit for. It is the only thing we agree on._

 

_Alfred the cat escaped again yesterday. We found him behind Pennyworth’s greenhouses. Gordon was most insistent that we put a collar on him but I still refuse to restrict him in such a way. I think he was chased by Ace. They do not get along for the most part so we tend to keep them separate._

 

_Silena attended a protest at the city hall for women’s rights and got arrested. Father paid her bail. It has been all over the papers so I sent you a clipping just so you can see who you let replace your mother._

 

_We are all well. Pennyworth asks when he will be able to send you a package because he heard that food is running low in Hungary._

 

_Regards,_

_Damian._

 

* * *

 

They failed to take into account that a canteen of water lasted approximately a day and a half and that ‘train ticket’ was very ambiguous. They travel from Veszprém to Szombathely, just within the border. They vaguely think they should try to get to Italy and see if that doctor they told the officer about is still there. But Austria is mountainous and Italy is a long way from where they are. Kal thinks they should take another train but they have no money for a ticket. Dick has an answer and performs acrobatics and contortions in the street for pennies, Wally uses his speed to steal from street vendors and doesn’t feel guilty because they are still the enemy really. Roy finds a stick to sharpen and spears fish in the river which they eat fresh from the fire they light in the park. After the confines of the camp, such freedom is more than they can comprehend. After one long, painful month they have scrounged enough money for six single tickets to Bolzano which is still in the Alps but on the Italian side of the border. They get there just before Christmas. The people are friendlier here, perhaps because they won the war but perhaps because Italians are effusive people generally. Kal likes them. A man asks where they are headed and they don’t have to worry about blowing their cover when they answer. The children in the town find Kal’s skin fascinating because while they have a Mediterranean tan, his skin is far darker than any they have seen. Wally, too, fascinates them because of his bright red hair, a rarity in these parts. They stay for Christmas, helping out in the house of a woman who claims to be over one hundred years old. They all believe her and no one else can remember a time when she wasn’t around to badger them about the state of their clothes or their garden or anything else she deems unsatisfactory. Conner is her favourite and she ropes him into helping her cook more often than she makes him do the heavy lifting. She speaks no English and they speak only the Italian they learnt from captured soldiers but somehow they make themselves understood. The first time Dick gets a letter from Tim, he cries. They do not mock him, instead congratulating him on having such a strong and brave little brother. Conner sends all the letters he wrote Megan but doesn’t get a reply before it is time for them to leave. Their host has gifted them some of her money to buy a ticket to visit Doctor Zatarra as well as a talisman each.  For Dick, St. Julian - patron saint of circus workers, for Wally, St. Sebastian - patron saint of athletes, for Kal, St. Michael - the archangel and saint of soldiers, for Conner, St. Valentine - patron of lovers and for Artemis, St. Joan of Arc - saint of warriors, particularly women. To Roy she gave a talisman of St. Lucia, “for clear sight,” she said. As their train left, she waved and shouted out for them to visit if they ever came back. “I’ll still be here!”

 

The train stops many times and they have only the food the villagers provided them. It is cold in the mountains but they can bear it much more easily now and even the rain doesn’t bother them. Snow falls and it is calming to watch it fall through the window. It takes over a day for them to get to Udine, where they change trains, and then another to get to Trieste and while they sit in safety, they try to plan how to find the doctor. Trieste is a large city of over three hundred thousand people, most of them Italians, so asking around would get them nowhere. They don’t have an address. They simply have their brains and their experience of getting things they shouldn’t have. Dick speaks a little Italian but is nowhere near fluent. He would ask if anyone knows a doctor, they decide, and work from there. They procure a map from the train station and find that there is a Slovene quarter and an Italian quarter, perfect for their search. They go to the market in the bustling Italian district and Dick asks a vendor if he knows a Doctor Zatarra. The man says that he does but doesn’t sound too happy about it, he gives Dick directions and they leave. Tensions appear to be high.

 

Giovanni Zatarra lives near the university, they discover, at the edge of the city. The houses are cream with terracotta roofs and shady trees line each side of the road. And there on the gate, a sign reading: ‘Dr. Zatarra, Medico’. They are at the right house. They nominate Kal to knock on the door, as their de facto leader. The man who greets them is tall and broad with a ready smile and slick black hair. His booming voice is disconcerting to them after so long in only each other’s company. He asks who they are and Kal introduces them. He is surprised to see American troops so far from home but is not unwelcoming. He draws Kal in with one arm around his shoulder and beckons for the others to follow. They remove their coats and boots and hang them on pegs by the door. He escorts them to the kitchen where they drink coffee and he gives them some pastries he had bought in the morning before sending them up to the attic.

“Try to sleep once you get settled,” he tells them, “we will discuss more in the morning.”

 

The doctor has a daughter. She is a young and vibrant woman in her early twenties, with black hair like her father but without his twinkling green eyes. She and Dick could be twins. She gets on well with Artemis who shares her rebellious nature and they leave to walk around the town only an hour after meeting for the first time. Dr Zatara explains that her mother was killed shortly after the war started and neither of them fully recovered from it, that he will not push her to form her own life when she still wants to be close to him, and that he will not allow any of them to break her heart. Then he leaves to see to his patients. Dick writes a letter to Timmy and another to Damian because they have not heard from him in a while but he can’t send it until he has money for the international postage. Timmy has stayed in France after the war with his friends, helping with clear up and visiting all the places they had only seen through the lens of war. He had found a camera in a shop in Paris and he promised to send Dick some of his early photographs. Dick remembers portrait days at the manor with a huge camera on a tripod and sitting perfectly still for hours to get it right, smile becoming more and more strained, the days before Tim became a permanent addition to the family and followed then around Gotham getting into places he shouldn't to snap some pictures. He barely notices Artemis and Zatanna return and Zatanna peering over his shoulder.

“My brother,” he tells her. “He got drafted and now he’s staying France for a few months.” She smiles at him and his heart stutters in his chest. He wonders if this is how Wally feels when Artemis looks at him. Her laugh is beautiful, the ringing of bells, the sound of the river over rocks, of a warm fire on a cold night, and he is barely paying attention as she speaks, so wrapped up in _her_ is he.

“How wonderful! Will you be staying here as well?” He registers the question far too late and comes out of his daze enough to shrug. She frowns and he thinks she is disappointed.

 

* * *

 

_Timmy,_

 

_I won’t pretend that I wanted you to go to war. I hoped the draft would skip you because we are Bruce Wayne’s sons in all but blood but apparently even the newly rich are not exempt. I hope it wasn’t too terrible at the front. I know we missed the worst of it but it was still pretty terrible. You’re not a kid anymore but that doesn’t stop me worrying._

 

_It’s funny that your group and mine match up. Bart is Wally’s cousin you know? And Malcolm used to go to school with Conner. Logan is something like Kal’s second cousin (I really don’t know what their relationship is) and I think Virgil knows Bruce somehow but I’m not sure. Just make sure you look after each other!_

 

_We arrived at Dr Zatara’s about two weeks ago and it’s been great. We can finally relax and let our cover go a little which I think everyone is glad for, especially Artemis who can finally stop pretending to be a guy. She’s very close to Wally but don’t tell Bart because he’ll tease. If you get the chance in the next few weeks, you should try to visit, maybe arrive just before we leave and we could go home together. Let me know what you think._

 

_Tut kamav,_

_Dickie_

 

* * *

 

They stay for a month. Wally watches Dick and Zatanna get closer every day, watches Conner pine for Megan, watches Artemis. He cannot help but think that this idyll is too perfect, that something will crush it because that’s just the way the world works. They are not lucky. They used to be; they used to be the lucky mascots of the battalion, never injured, always upbeat, but now their luck has run dry. It must have, no one can be this lucky. Spring arrives early and they watch flowers come into bloom with joy. Easter is coming soon and Wally wants to be at home with his family, his uncle and aunt and Bart (if he’s there) and the twins. But the others seem in no hurry to leave so Wally must find something to occupy himself with.

 

It is Dick’s newspaper clippings that capture his interest because he’s always been curious about Gotham and their ‘vigilante problem’. All of them are about Batman or Robin or the elusive Magpie with a couple about whether Nightwing was missing because he hadn’t been seen in Gotham’s sister city of Bludhaven for months. Silly question, if he’s as young as he looks he’s certainly been drafted. Bruce Wayne pops up several times and doesn’t appear to have been drafted which Wally thinks must be a relief for Dick because, while he’s not on good speaking terms with his adopted father, he wants someone to go home to.  Wally spreads the clippings out on the floor, the Batman and Robin together, the Magpie next to them, then the Waynes. Nothing stands out to him. He puts them in date order. There are several coincidences: Wayne having injuries the day after Batman had a particularly difficult night, a new Robin just days after Bruce Wayne’s blood son arrived on the scene, Magpie disappearing less than a week after Timmy was drafted. Once is chance, twice is a coincidence and three times is a pattern. There is a link between the Waynes and the Bats. He ponders this revelation and decides to write to Bart. Bart knows Tim best and if there is something weird about him, Bart would know.

 

Artemis likes Zatanna. She didn’t expect to, girls without her knowledge of battle tend to be frivolous and boring, but Zatanna looked at her and saw a kindred spirit. To Zatanna she wasn’t simply one of the boys and while she enjoyed the easy camaraderie of the young men, she liked the less rough and ready approach too. It reminded her of home. Russia was dead to her now and she knew she couldn’t return but it didn’t stop her missing it like an amputated limb. That’s what it was now: a severed off part of her. And Zatanna understood. She saw her grief and sympathised, she saw her confusion and tried to help. Where the boys muddled through and hoped for the best, Zatanna solved the problem at its core. When Wally got a stomach ache from eating too much cannoli, she fed him peppermint until he felt better. When Artemis found herself restless and longing to shoot something, Zatanna took her into the garden and taught her fencing. When Conner was missing his girlfriend, Zatanna reminded him that they were watching the same stars. When Roy disappeared for two days, Zatanna figured out that he had gone camping to clear his head. She was relaxing. But as much as she appreciated Zatanna, sometimes she wanted to be around Wally. Wally who cracked stupid jokes or sometimes ran in circles until he fell over like a _durak._ He was more than just a friend to her, she knew, because sometimes she thought about settling down with him, following him to America, but then she’d remember her parent’s relationship and panic. Artemis Crock did not do fear. She took what she wanted and didn’t care about the consequences. She is going to live now. She is going to live away from the life the Red Army took from her and away from a bullet to the head of an enemy and away from a dingy flat and too little food. Life will not come to her, or not the life she wants, so she will take it for herself, like she has taken everything else.

 

Wally is in the attic surrounded by paper when Artemis stops by. She stoops next to him and picks up one of the articles. “I need a mystery to occupy myself with,” he offers by way of explanation. Artemis doesn’t care. She studies the article in her hand: ‘Batman Takes on the Joker!’ it proudly proclaims and she puts it back. There are dozens, she realises, dozens of articles about Batman and Robin and Magpie but she doesn’t recognise them at all. There are still more about Bruce Wayne, she sees, the billionaire with more money than sense. Him she has heard of, however briefly, in the halls of imperial Russia. She picks up an article from the edge of the pile. ‘Nightwing Gone for Good? Is Bludhaven Doomed?’ There is a picture below of a man in a skintight costume performing a flip. The picture is blurry and she can’t quite make out facial features from under the mask he wears but she would recognise a flip like that anywhere. “This is Dick, is it not?” She sees Wally still and he swears. She wonders what it is that made him so shocked. Does he not recognise his own friend? He moves two articles together, Nightwing and Dick Grayson. Then he studies the others. Bruce Wayne and Batman are pushed together and she can see the resemblance underneath the cowl, the strong jaw and grim mouth. His investigation is complete.

“Who are these men? Batman, Robin, Nightwing?” He looks at her and smiles as if he forgot that she could ask nicely, or perhaps that she didn’t know.

“They’re vigilantes.” At her confused grimace, he continues. “They stop crime at night outside of the law. Gotham and Bludhaven are pretty bad. The criminals are terrifying. Batman and Robin work together to stop them in Gotham, Magpie too but I think he’s struck out on his own or been drafted. He hasn’t been seen in a while. Nightwing has Bludhaven.” She looks at the pictures, poor caricatures of noble men, risking their lives to protect the innocent. She looks at her hands and in their lines she sees the blood she has shed, blood she must always atone for.

“That is what I will do. I will be a vigilante.” Wally looks pained and takes one of her hands in his. She knows he cares for her, that they will live together and maybe marry one day, maybe there will be children.

“Artie,” he whispers, “no.” She grins the grin of madmen, the grin of rebellion, of Red Army svoloch, but she doesn’t care. She has found something new for herself and if she must grin the grin of death to do it, that is the price she will pay.

“No. Not ‘Artemis’. I will be ‘Tigress’, fiercest of all the predators. Criminals shall be my prey.”

 

Dick is standing on his head in the garden when Wally approaches. The redhead is uneasy, he can see, and his fidgeting hands are distracting. He rolls back to his feet and sits at the base of the tree. “What is it, Wally?” he asks and the fidgeting only increases. It’s something serious, then, something he doesn’t want anyone else to know. His eyes are wary, darting away and anywhere but at Dick’s face. This isn’t normal. He opens his mouth, closes it again. Dick starts laughing.

“I know you’re Nightwing.” Dick stops laughing.  

 

After their month of Italian bliss, they are ready to return home. Tickets have been purchased for a ship to take them to the port of Lisbon where they would take a second ship to New York. Artemis would go with them for she had nowhere else to go. Bags are packed, their last meals are prepared and they are ready to go. They pretend not to see Zatanna kiss Dick on the balcony. Dr Zatara leaves early to visit a patient in the Slovene quarter and they all tag along so they can get a lift to the port later. It is when they are leaving that it happens. Tensions among the Italians and Slovenian people are high and they had noticed this in an absent way when they first entered the city. Now it has come to a head. They are leaving and there are Italians standing in the street. They are angry and the doctor tries to talk them down, tries to distract them, tries to diffuse their anger, but nothing is working. Nothing is working and one of them has a gun. Roy sees it. Artemis sees it. They try to warn him. But before they can shout out, there is a crack. A gunshot. A choked cry. And the doctor is lying on the ground. The doctor is lying in a spreading pool of his own blood and God hadn’t they seen enough bloodshed? The war is over but death is never ending. Zatanna is screaming, crying out for her father to “wake up, please, Papà, just wake up.” Dick is crouched beside her with an am around her shoulder and he would be calm if not for the paleness of his face and his shaking hands. Wally bars the door to the house they left but everyone seems to have enough common sense to stay inside. A stillness falls upon them like a blanket and it muffles everything but themselves. Kal takes the reins of the cart and they return to the doctor’s house. It takes less than a week to organise everything and when they inform the captain of the news, he is more than happy to refund them. He was a good friend of the doctor. They use the money to buy seven tickets on a new ship taking them all the way to Brest where Megan will join them and they will continue across the sea to New York as planned. The doctor’s funeral is sparsely attended. He is buried in a private plot in the grounds of the cathedral and Zatanna holds Dick’s hand as the priest performs the service.

 

* * *

 

_Uncle B and Aunty I (and Bart, if you’re there),_

_We’re coming home! We’ve booked passage on a ship leaving Trieste and should arrive in New York around the 20th of this month if we’re lucky and the weather is good. I’m so excited to finally be coming home. Going to Europe and seeing the world has been great, though not particularly relaxing, but I’m ready for home again._

 

_Trieste is a nice city. You would love it, Aunty I. The food is amazing and everyone is so friendly, unlike the Hungarians. I will be sad to leave my brothers in arms behind but Dick has assured us we are welcome in Gotham at any time. Though, between you and me, I’m not sure I want to be roaming those streets with all the criminals. If Bart is there, can you ask him about Tim? We’ve lost contact with them and Dick’s getting worried and I’m curious. He talks so much about his little brothers but I feel like I know nothing about them._

 

_Artemis has decided to join us in America because she doesn’t exactly have anywhere else to go. I told her she could stay with us. I hope you don’t mind. She won’t be any trouble, I promise, just a girl looking to find her way in a new place. I think I’ll ask her to go to dinner or something when we get back, maybe the theatre. I think I might love her but it’s hard to understand myself. I need advice, Uncle B._

 

_I’ll see you soon,_

_Wally_

 

* * *

 

A storm hits them halfway across the Atlantic. Dick sleeps through it, Artemis is unfazed, Roy grumbles and goes back to sleep, Conner holds Megan tight in his arms and Kal writes a letter by telegram by candle light. It is only Wally who cannot sleep. Only Wally hears thunder and thinks of shells falling, see a flash of lightning and thinks it a spark from the muzzle of a Browning machine gun. The waves are turbulent and it reminds him of shaky rides in ambulance carts, of collapsing trenches and unstable ground. He can’t sleep through this. The hold of the ship is quieter, full of cargo to be delivered, and he settles down between sacks of grain. He feels someone settle down next to him. Artemis. She leans her head on his shoulder and speaks in her low, gentle voice.

“When I see a flash of red, I am back in Russia with the Red Army at the gates. When I hear anger, I watch my mother and father arguing, my sister being dragged away. When I smell iron, my father gets shot over and over. We have problems, Wally. Do not be afraid of them.” He turns to her and sees her face in the dim light, the way her hair curls over her shoulders, the way her eyes slant upwards, the way her skin has tanned in the sun, and he can’t help himself anymore. He pulls her closer, cups her cheek in his hand, and kisses her softly in the darkness.

 

Dick and Zatanna are inseparable for most of the journey. As the only one who has lost both their parents (and is willing to talk about it because Roy is being a jackass and won’t speak to any of them), Dick is her confidant, her light in the darkness. He understands when she refuses to eat, he holds her through the nightmares, he lets her cry on his shoulder, and through it all he doesn’t expect anything more of her than what she is capable. He tells her about Gotham, where they will go first, and Bludhaven where he lives. He is a police officer, he tells her, which means he protects people. There is something missing from his stories though. Like the incident with the villainous Two-Face because why would a little boy be anywhere near such a man, particularly when said little boy was the ward of a billionaire. But she loves his stories, appreciates how he draws her out of her own head, and when they sleep curled up together at night, she imagines a time in a nameless future where they can live such stories together.

 

Arriving in New York is bittersweet for Roy. Dick has his brothers waiting on the pier with the old butler. Wally has his uncle and cousin, all with the same bright red hair. Kal has a young, mixed race woman waiting alongside two men who must be his friends from Atlanta. Conner has an elderly couple, standing near Dick’s family with their arms around each other. Roy has no one. Ollie hasn’t bothered to show his face, as usual, and Dinah is probably at home trying to persuade him to do something useful for once in his life. It is lonely, to come home with nothing to come back to. The ship docks and they collect their bags from their cabins. Wally races down the ramp with Artemis in tow and launches himself at his uncle, bags dropped to one side. Kal is beaming in a way Roy has rarely seen as he approaches his friends. Dick is mobbed by his brothers within seconds of stepping foot on dry land and Zatanna is laughing into her hand. Conner is introducing Megan to his grandparents and it seems to be going well. They have left Roy behind and he tries not to regret staying apart from them. He hadn’t wanted to get attached, so he didn’t. It is easier this way.

 

Customs is a nightmare because the government decided to make immigration difficult while they were gone. Luckily, Artemis both speaks and read English so she can pass the literacy test with ease. Megan, too, passes with flying colours. As a nurse, she will be able to find a job wherever they decide to settle. Zatanna reads in her own language but doesn’t understand why it is necessary and argues enough to offend them. Eventually she complies and they all breathe a sigh of relief. They are ready to go home but none of them are quite willing to part. Their goodbyes are drawn out and reluctant until Dick’s brother tugs him away and demands that they leave because “Father said I could join him tonight if you return in time for supper,” and Dick defers to him, giving one last round of hugs and hopping into the carriage. He turns to help Zatanna up but Alfred has beaten him to it. They are one short and already they feel diminished. The Kents inform them that their train leaves in but ten minutes and if they wanted to be home before sundown they had to leave. Then it was just Wally and Kal. They saw Roy standing to the side with no family still begging for stories, no friends to see him home. They ask if he has anyone coming. He says no. They ask if he has somewhere to stay. He says he’ll figure it out. He leaves without saying goodbye. Wally can see Uncle Barry wants to get back to see Aunty Iris and he kind of wants to see her too so they leave Kal with his friends to take a train back to Central City.

 

Conner invites all of them to his and Megan’s wedding. Kal is his best man and Wally promises Dick that they can be each other’s best men when they get hitched. Zatanna and Artemis are her bridesmaids and her uncle, Jean Jones, walks her down the aisle. He has come all the way from France to be there. The wedding is beautiful, the people are beautiful, and Dick gets to dance with Zatanna. They all get a little tipsy on illegal cider and Wally proposes to Artemis on the steps of the Kents' farm house. She tells him to ask her when he’s sober and she’ll think about it. At that moment there is nowhere he’d rather be. Not in Bludhaven, flying through the air as Nightwing (and thank the Lord Zatanna found _that_ out on her own. That was not a conversation he wanted to have), not Gotham with Bruce’s uneasy tension and Damian’s ‘brotherly affections’, this night, with all his friends, was perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll do translation notes first because that's easier (if anyone knows how to link text to here like the Good Omens fandom has somehow figured out let me know because that seems more convenient.)  
> \- 'Entschuldigen, Herren, kannst du uns zu einem Hotel führen?' = Excuse me, sirs, can you direct us to a hotel?  
> \- 'Osztrák gazemberek' = Austrian bastards (Hungarian)  
> \- 'Einem Hotel? Wir haben Geld' = A hotel? We have money  
> \- 'Meine Familie und ich müssen die Grenze überqueren. Wir sind mit der Zirkus aber wir wurden getrennt. Bitte helfen uns, wir meinen es nicht böse.' = My family and I must cross the border. We are with the circus but we have been separated. Please help us, we mean no harm.  
> \- 'Wenn Sie helfen uns, ich werde dafür sorgen, dass Sie Sitze in der ersten Reihe in Haly’s Zirkus erhalten' = If you help us, I will make sure you get front row seats at Haly's circus.  
> There are various other phrases in other languages but I didn't note the translations and I can't figure them out. The German mostly comes from my GCSE knowledge which is hilariously bad and everything else is from google translate so if I got any of it wrong let me know.
> 
> A crazy amount of research went into this (I think I spent about 3 hours researching Hungarian POW camps from WW1 and that was just a small part of it). The gun Artemis uses, the M1891, was an actual Russian rifle accurate at up to 500m. All the place names and landmarks are actual places that existed at the time and the stuff about Trieste is all true. There was a lot of tension between the Slovenians and the Italians and people did die because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The title is from a poem called 'Ode in Memory of the American Volunteers Fallen for France' by Alan Seeger published in 1917.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think by leaving a comment (I'll try to reply when I can) or find me on tumblr [here](https://storm-leviosa-fanfics.tumblr.com)


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